City investing $25 million to back mortgages on West and South sides

The city of Chicago is investing in the nation’s two major mortgage-backers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to generate hundreds of new home loans in the city’s Black and Brown neighborhoods where lending has been neglected in the past.

“We’re investing taxpayers’ dollars in taxpayers,” said city Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin. In recent months, she has directed $7 million of a planned $25 million of city money to a fund that invests in the mortgage-backers, with a stipulation that the money be used for loans on single-family homes on the city’s South and West sides.

The $25 million from the city's investment portfolio goes into a fund managed by partner R. Seelaus, based in New Jersey, that invests in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with targeted goals. 

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